Empowering Youth through Social Entrepreneurship
By My Mind My Hand, A BioEndeavor Initiative
Instructors: Dr. Minna Allarakhia and Raisa Allarakhia
The goal of this program is to enable youth to view social entrepreneurship as an opportunity to develop their confidence, knowledge, and skill sets, whilst uplifting their families and communities economically and socially.
Social entrepreneurship has as its objective the use of new product or service development to drive change through the triple bottom line: economic, social, or environmental change. Social entrepreneurs may seek to create change through economic inclusion, in education, healthcare, for the environment—tangibly and transparently augmenting the quality of life for their communities.
Through social entrepreneurship, youth can not only create steady income for themselves and other family members, but also enable those in their community. As community members thrive socially and economically, they can in turn share their resources with others. In this sense, shared valued or a cycle of sharing is created.
Through this personal journey, participants learn about their values and beliefs, their aspirations, and goals in life. Beginning with a picture of themselves, participants will be able to future seek opportunities that align well with their aspirations and goals. The journey unfolds as follows:
Week 1 Topic: What is Social Entrepreneurship
Understanding what is meant by social entrepreneurship.
Week 2 Topic: The Triple Bottom Line Understanding the triple bottom line model-economics, social, and environment.
Week 3 Topic: The Sustainable Development Goals
Using the sustainable development goals to define the purpose of your venture.
Week 4 Topic: Understanding and Designing for Sustainability Understanding what is meant by sustainability and how products and services can be designed to be sustainable.
Week 5 Topic: Using Biomimicry to Innovate
Assessing how nature—plants and animal models—can be used for product or service innovation.
Week 6 Topic: Inclusive Business
Understanding what is inclusive business and how your venture can empower others.
Week 7 Topic: The 4As-Acceptability, Affordability, Accessibility, Awareness Understanding the relevance and application of the 4As to your product or service.
Week 8 Topic: The Cost Analysis and Pricing Strategy
Assessing what you need to consider in your cost analysis-upfront and recurring costs and the impact on your pricing strategy.
Week 9 Topic: What’s in a Name?
Thinking about the best name and slogan for your product or service.
Week 10 Topic: Developing your Soft Skills
Understanding the soft skills needed by an entrepreneur: leadership, communication, collaboration, creativity, confidence and resilience.
It is our hope that youth view this journey as a hopeful beginning step into their futures. Please contact us at info@bioendeavor.net to learn how to implement this program in your school/institution, classroom, or incubator. Join us on this journey!
Instructor Profiles: Dr. Minna Allarakhia and Raisa Allarakhia are the co-founders of the My Mind My Hand Initiative. Dr. Minna Allarakhia is faculty in the Management Sciences department at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University.
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